Charity removed from register after chief executive jailed for sex offences and lying to Commission

The Charity Commission removed an LGBT charity from the register after the founder was jailed for 28 months last year for sex offences, according to a report published today.

The Charity Commission removed an LGBT charity from the register after the founder was jailed for 28 months last year for sex offences, according to a report published today.

William Clark, who founded, and served as both chief executive and a trustee of Rainbow Rooms LGBT, was jailed on 12 November last year for 28 months for offences relating to indecent images of children and voyeurism.

He was also jailed for four months, to run concurrently, for supplying false or misleading information to the Commission.

The Commission launched an inquiry into the charity in October 2013 after being informed that Clark had lied to the Commission about previous convictions. The inquiry was closed in April 2014, pending the outcome of a police investigation.

In an inquiry report published today, the Commission said: “In 2010 the trustees, including Mr Clark, had all signed a declaration that they had obtained CRB checks and were suitable to act as trustees of a charity that worked with children and vulnerable adults. Mr Clark later admitted to the police that he had not obtained such a check as it would have exposed a conviction which would have prevented him from serving as a trustee.

“Mr Clark also told the police that he had not disclosed his conviction to the other trustees. The inquiry found that Mr Clark had provided false or misleading information to the commission and referred its evidence of the false declaration to the police for further consideration.

“The Commission closed the substantive investigation phase of its inquiry on 23 April 2014, pending the outcome of the police investigation and prosecution.

“The Commission concluded that there had been serious misconduct by Mr Clark. He failed to obtain a CRB check and had then lied to the other trustees and to the commission. His actions meant that the charity and its beneficiaries were exposed to a safeguarding risk they could neither identify nor manage. Had the charity continued, he would not have been suitable to remain in post as a trustee or CEO.”

The inquiry report said the charity had been removed from the commission’s register of charities on 7 March 2014, as it had ceased to exist.